Lack of plane tickets troubles passengers in Karnali

Lack of plane tickets troubles passengers in Karnali

The numbers of passengers is swelling at Nepalgunj airport with only two days left for Bijaya Dashami, the last day of the 10 days long Bada Dashain festival. However, people are unable to get the air tickets easily as the number of flights to various destinations is less than the number of passengers opting for air travel.

Moreover, passengers have been complaining that major airlines have issued tickets prioritising people with high level connections.Dolpa and Humla districts of the Karnali province lack road connectivity. Although, Jumla and Mugu of Karnali province and Bajura of Far-west province are connected via roads road transportion service is not regular and reliable. Hence, the people of these districts have to rely on air transport for travel.

Travellers to these districts i

n the mountainous region are hit hard by shortage of tickets.

People who have connections to political leaders and ministers get the air tickets while those without such advantage are left in the lurch, said Surendra Shahi of Mugu, who has been struggling to get plane ticket to Mugu for the last one week.

However, Chief of the Nepalgunj Civil Aviation Office, Prem Nath Thakur, said that the situation has arised because the demand for plane tickets has surpassed the number of flights by a wide margin.

According to Thakur, Tara and Summit Air have been operating one flight daily to Dolpa, Mugu, Humla, Jumla and Bajura. Sita Air’s plane is said to be currently out of order whereas the Nepal Airlines has started operating flights to these destinations only from Sunday.